


Playdates in the Havenglow Manor

by Nicentac_Crackers



Series: Tea Timers [4]
Category: Craig of the Creek (Cartoon)
Genre: Childhood Friends, Fluff, Pranks and Practical Jokes, Slice of Life, Takes place before they started officially going to the creek everyday, Their vocabulary is higher than a normal child's
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-14 03:48:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,181
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29289369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nicentac_Crackers/pseuds/Nicentac_Crackers
Summary: The Tea Timers spend the day in Eliza's manor while their parents catch up with eachother....They probably shouldn't have left them to roam the manor alone.
Series: Tea Timers [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1937323
Kudos: 3





	1. Second Meetings

"Now dear, go off to the other room and play with the other children, alright?"

Jane stifled a scoff, leaning her back on the door of the room her mother forced her in. She let out a sigh of frustration. This always happens! Her mother would pull her off in a random room, tell her to play with 'other kids', and then leave her there!

It didn't help that everytime she was put inside a random room, there was no other children to play with. She huffed and crossed her arms, sliding down to the soft, carpeted floor. She started scanning her surroundings. 

The room she was dragged to didn't look all that bad. It was well decorated and if she had to guess, definitely belonged to a child richer than herself. Her eyes hovered over to the giant queen sized bed neatly sitting in the middle of the bedroom, it's headboard leaning against the pink accent wall.

The decorations were a perfect mix of maturity and childhood innocence, with multiple stuffed toys hanging on a small hammock in the corner of the room while a tall bookshelf filled with poetry, ballads, and the likes on the other corner.

She took notice of the grand piano sitting in the middle of the room. She pursed her lips, 'hm' she thought, 'The child who owns this room must be well versed in the piano if they went as far as to get one for their bedroom'

Jane stood up from the floor and carefully walked towards the piano, making sure not to step on the music sheets scattered around it. She stopped on the piano seat in front of her and leaned over to read the opened music book resting on the stand.

"Hungarian Rhapsody N. 2"

Jane stepped back in surprise, How long has this child been playing piano? Shouldn't they be playing something more simple such as Pachelbel's Canon instead of going straight for the more difficult pieces? She rubbed her eyes violently before going over to re-read it again. Nothing changed.

"Who are YOU?"

Jane let out a squeak of surprise and jumped back, her shoe stepping on a music sheet and slipping in the process. 

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't come here on my own, I swear-!" she sputtered, trying her best to get back up.

The figure continued walking towards her as they spoke, "Daddy told me that guests were coming but I didn't expect those 'guests' to be so invasive of my privacy." they hissed.

Jane settled for a kneeling position, her eyes glued to the floor while her head hang low from shame, "I'm sorry. My mother dragged me in here to play with other children and-"

"Wait." the figure shushed her and she obeyed, "That voice...Are you that girl from that Willow Tree?" 

...What? Jane looked up, "Hold on, how did you-" she gasped involuntarily.

Looking down at her was that girl she met at the Creek!

"You're-! You're that girl from the Creek! Um, Eliza, was it?"

"Is that what that's unfortunate place is called?" The girl, Eliza, muttered to herself befor waving a hand dismissively, "Nevermind that. You're name is Jane, correct?"

Jane stood up from her kneeling position, "That's correct."

"Ah, no wonder I couldn't recognize you. The last I saw you, you were wearing a party gown along with a birthday hat to match."

'I could say the same for you' Jane thought to herself, "Is this your room?" she asked politely. Eliza simply nodded, "Why, yes, it is. Amazing, isn't it?"

"It's quite...big, for someone like you."

"Well, Daddy did always want the best for me." Eliza laughed haughtily. Jane tilted her head to the side, "If it's not too much trouble asking...the last time we met, you were with a boy. George, his name was. Where is he now?" 

Eliza's smile transitioned into an annoyed frown, "GEORGE is running late again. He said his parents had to do something important before coming over." she huffed, crossing her arms.

"Ah. Well, we could always find ways to pass the time while-" Jane got cut off by the sound of a car driving past. She rushed over to the window and leaned forward, looking down for the source of the noise.

"Looks like we don't have to." Eliza said, appearing beside the purple haired girl as she looked down at the courtyard. Jane followed her gaze and spotted a small boy stepping out of the car along with two other people. The boy looked up and waved a hand at Eliza, the latter waving back politely.

"Come now, let's go meet him downstairs." Eliza said, grabbing Jane's hand and leading her out of the room.

\--

"Miss Eliza-"

"You're LATE."

Jane stood awkwardly between the two, her arms behind her back as she watched the scene unfold. She wasn't going to lie, she quite enjoyed the tension that radiated between George and Eliza.

"I apologize, Miss Eliza. My parents had to go and do some errands before coming by. I tried to persuade them but they didn't listen." George explained, putting his head down, "I'm truly sorry."

Eliza stared him down with a frown on her face for a full, suffocating minute before scowling and rolling her eyes, "Oh, fine. I suppose it couldn't be helped." she placed both her hands on her waist, "Just make sure to come in time, okay? You know how strict I am when it comes to schedules."

George's eyes lit up as he nodded, "Yes, Miss Eliza." he smiled. He then turned to Jane "...And you are...?"

Jane blinked, "Oh! Yes, I'm...I'm Jane, the girl from the creek? You saw me by a willow tree while you were with Eliza..."

"Willow tree...Willow tree..." George snapped his fingers, "Ah, yes! You were that girl who I helped set up the lights, am I correct?"

Jane nodded, "Yeah! Yeah, my mother dropped me off here while her and my father went off to...wherever they ran off to."

"They're most like in my Daddy's study." Eliza spoke up, "Daddy always leads his guests to his study whenever they need to talk because it was the only room I wasn't allowed in." she sighed, "For some reason."

"Your house is awfully clean despite it being gigantic." Jane blurted out suddenly and immediately covered her mouth, "Not in a bad way! In a good way, because I've never been to a house that's been this clean before! Not that I thought it would be dirty I just-I should probably stop talking." she zipped her mouth shut.

Eliza and George stared at her, "You know you don't need to be so...tense around us, right?" George said. Jane's shoulders relaxed, "I don't?"

"Heavens no! We're friends, aren't we? Besides, you're one of the FEW people we tolerate in this neighborhood and trust me, we've met everyone." Eliza smirked smugly at her.

For some reason, that smirk was just enough confirmation for Jane to loosen up. Not a whole lot, but just enough to talk to them without sputtering, "That's good, that's good..." she whispered, looking up at the two of them, "So...what do we do now? We have the whole day to entertain ourselves while we're here."

George and Eliza looked at each other with a knowing smile and took both of Jane's hands, "Don't worry, we have a list." George said.

Jane's brow furrowed, that answer was a bit too vague for her liking but...they were her friends, so of course the two would make sure they would have fun, right?

...She definitely didnt expect their first activity would be so messy.


	2. Cupcake Frosting, Cocky Servants, and Sticky Clothing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First up on the schedule - "Throw food at the Servants"

"Why are we carrying this again?" Jane asked, holding a tray of cupcakes up the stairs.

"The more you keep on asking, the less likely you are to receive an answer, now stop your chatting and follow me." Eliza said with a forced smile on her face.

Jane shrunk back, muttering a small apology while George patted on her shoulder comfortingly, "Don't mind her. She's good when she's not annoyed, I promise."

They finally reached Eliza's bedroom, with the floor being empty instead of cluttered with music sheets.

Jane gaped, "How did it-"

"Maids."

Jane nodded, "Ah". This was very different from her own place, usually the rooms are the ones the owner has to clean, not the servants.

Eliza set her tray of cupcakes down and walked out to her balcony, "...!" Eliza motioned Jane and George to come forward and pointed at the figures down the courtyard, "Do you see those servants by the courtyard?"

The two nodded.

"Well, usually when Mommy and Daddy are out, I like to throw these cupcakes at them for fun." she explained, grabbing a beautifully decorated cupcake from her tray and flinging it off her balcony, hitting one of the young butlers square in the face.

Jane flinched, "Wouldn't they get mad?" she questioned. At her mansion, her servants would always scold her for misbehaving.

Eliza shook her head, "Oh, they know." 

"What?"

"Look," George pointed down.

Jane looked down and her eyes widened in shock, "They're...laughing?" 

The servants were laughing at the poor butler! yet the man was also laughing with them? Does he not feel ashamed?

"Are they not upset? We just threw a cupcake at them and ruined their attire!"

Eliza crossed her arms, "Oh please, I've done this to them plenty of times when I was younger that they've already gotten used to it." she sighed, "Unfortunately, that means they're also prepared." 

To prove her point, she threw another cupcake, only to have her current victim, a maid, deflect it by ducking and instead let the cupcake hit the bush behind her.

Jane's shoulder relaxed, "So...This game is just like hunting?"

George took a cupcake from his tray and threw it down, hitting one of the senior servants at the back, "Well, hunting but with no death and instead of bullets, we use cupcake-" he got cut off by a cupcake to the face as he fell to the floor from the surprise attack.

Jane gasped and turned to the culprit, "You two need to stop talking and start throwing." Eliza ordered with a sinister smirk, flinging a cupcake at Jane next and staining her lavendar dress.

"Wh-hey!" Jane pouted, "This is expensive!"

"Well it will end up in a thriftstore if you keep stalling." Eliza threatened, shoving a cupcake on Jane's hands.

Jane looked down at the cupcake, then up at the courtyard, scanning all the potential victims. Her eyes landed on a young man, perhaps a new worker, whispering towards his fellow colleagues and laughing while pointing at her.

Jane growled, her superiority complex revealing itself. How dare he laugh at her!

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Eliza urged. Jane's hand tightened around the base of the cupcake as she considered her choices.  
.  
.  
.  
She prepared her shot, holding her cupcake like a baseball and flinging it off the balcony, hitting the young man's hair and ruining the gel he placed on it. The young man gave a grunt of frustration as his colleagues started laughing at him. Jane stared at the man for a few more moments, unable to move from her own shock.

"So? How do you feel?" Eliza asked, clasping Jane's shoulders as she leaned down.

Jane looked back at the man who laughed at her, now scowling as he tried to remove the frosting off his gelled hair. She then looked down at her hands, now sticky from the frosting she attempted to wipe off her dress, "I..." she felt a rush of adrenaline pump through her veins, "I feel incredible!" she grinned and grabbed another cupcake, handing it over to George, "George you MUST try this, it's so much fun!"

George laughed kindly at her enthusiasm, his face covered in dried up frosting as he took the cupcake, "Well, if you insist..." he surveyed the remaining servants and chose his target, a beautiful maid too busy admiring her own reflection to even notice the unfortunate fate waiting for her.

He raised his cupcake up and, before throwing, whistled at the top of his lungs, catching the attention of his victim.

The maid turned around at the loud whistle, "Huh-?" she screamed as the cupcake hit her face, effectively ruining her make-up.

The maid growled, "How DARE you-agh!" the maid got hit again before she could finish her sentence, not by George, but by Eliza instead.

"Careful with your words, Miss Guinevere!" Eliza taunted, holding up another cupcake. The maid's scowl transformed to one of her as soon as her eyes shifted towards the pink haired girl, "Miss Eliza!" she stammered, "O-of course, Miss Eliza." the maid bowed respectfully towards the girl before walking away to the servant's quarters.

Jane's eyes followed the maid with an astonished look on her face. In her home, she could never yell at her servants the way Eliza did! Normally, she wouldn't even talk to them at all, nor have this much fun taunting them, "You have so much power over your servants..." she said out loud.

George agreed, "Indeed she has."

Eliza raised her head high at the praise, "All it takes to have a little power is intimidation. If you let others fear you, then you can get more power. At least, that's what I heard Daddy say."

Jane nodded at her words, it seems like she was partially wrong about her first impression of her. She knew Eliza was mean, she could tell by the way she spoke towards her when they first met, but she didn't expect her to be smart too. Perhaps it was something she got from her parents? She seems to idolize her father a lot so it may not be much of a surprise if that's where Eliza got her intelligence from.

Eliza sighed once more, throwing another cupcake at one of her servants with a bored expression on her face as the cupcake hit yet another unfortunate victim.

"All of this throwing has made me tired," she complained, biting onto one of the remaining cupcakes on the tray with a yawn, "Shall we move on to the next activity?"

'Not after you stained my dress' Jane thought bitterly but stayed silent, her eyes wandering to the last two remaining cupcakes on the tray. She bit her lip, debating on whether or not to go through with her plan.

"Well, I-"

"Actually, there's something else that needs to be arranged before moving on." George cut Jane off, grabbing both of the cupcakes. Jane's mouth let out a quiet 'oh' as George slowly handed her the cupcake while staring Eliza down.

"Oh? And what's that?" Eliza asked innocently, oblivious to their plan.

George smirked, "This." he flung the cupcake on Eliza, the frosting sticking to her face as the poor girl screamed in shock. Jane instinctively threw her own cupcake, the pastry hitting, and sliding down the light pink dress Eliza wore.

"..."

Eliza stood still, shock evident on her face as she looked down on her dress, then at the fallen cupcakes on her balcony, then at the both of them,

"You..." she whispered, "You're going to pay for this." she said with a playful yet dangerous tone, wiping the frosting off of her face and dress and flinging it towards the two.

George covered his face with his arms as soon as the frosting started flying, "Don't act like you've forgotten, Miss Eliza! You started this the moment you put frosting in my hair!" he laughed. 

Eliza rolled her eyes with a smile, "I wouldn't have done that if you weren't so much of a chatterbox, talking to Jane like a child on sugar instead of throwing cupcakes like you were supposed to do!

Jane shrieked once the three started smearing frosting on eachother, "My mother will be furious when she finds out about this!" she giggled as the fight died down.

"Honestly, it's their fault for leaving us alone." George chuckled with her, taking out a handkerchief and wiping off a bit of frosting from his loafers.

"Agreed." Eliza picked up the three trays off the floor, "But if we really don't want to get in trouble, we most definitely have to change our clothing."

Jane frowned, "I didn't bring any extra clothing." she informed bluntly.

"Who said you're gonna wear your own clothes?"

Jane raised a brow, "Are you implying I wear something else?"

Eliza placed her hands on her hips, "Well, now we know what we're doing next. George, clear today's schedule, we're about to have some retail therapy!" she grinned.

Jane looked over to George, who looked back at her with the same confused expression.

"But what about George? He doesn't have any clothes either."

The boy simply shrugged, "I've slept in Eliza's room enough times to have my own little space in her closet. She has the same amount of space in my own closet back at home."

Jane didn't respond back. Just how long have George and Eliza been friends for both of them to be comfortable enough to leave clothes behind?

She shook the thought out of her head, "Ah, let's go back inside then, shall we? I'm starting to feel a little sticky from the fight."

Eliza nodded, leading them back inside her room and closing the balcony door. She headed over to her bathroom, coming back with a box of wet wipes for them to use as the pink haired girl prepared different sets of clothing for all three to try out. 

Jane wonders whether or not she should feel impressed at how organized Eliza's walk in closet was or jealous because of how massive it was for a child. She decides to feel both.


	3. Dress-Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jane finally gains some real friends.

She was poor.

At least, that's what Jane was thinking right now as she stood in front of the giant three way mirror inside Eliza's walk in closet. The dress Eliza had chosen for her was designed so intricately that she was convinced she had all her dresses commissioned by 

She turned around, taking in the mixture of pink and gold in her outfit, "Wow, this is..." she shooke her head with a slight chuckle, "Amazing!"

Eliza raised her head up high, "Why, thank you. My father commissioned all these dresses specifically for ME but I suppose you can use them too. Some don't fit me anyway." she grabbed both of Jane's shoulders, "Besides, you look absolutely MARVELOUS in that dress."

Jane felt her cheeks heat up, her head lowering a little, "Thank you..." she replied, a dark tint on her cheeks as she fiddled her fingers toger with a small smile.

"Oh!" She suddenly perked up, "But what about George? Where is he?" Jane asked, looking around for the boy.

Eliza shrugged her shoulders, scrolling through her closet dismissively, "George takes the longer in the bathroom so he might not be coming any time soon." she teased. 

"Hey!" They both heard George's muffled cry from the bathroom. Both girls giggled.

"But what about our parents? Won't they ask what happened to our clothes?"

"They don't need to. I just ordered Miss Alice to wash our clothes and keep it a secret." 

Jane tilted head head at the name, " 'Miss' Alice?"

Eliza nodded, finally choosing a dress to wear and heading for the changing room, "Miss Alice is the 'Head Maid' in the house. She was the first maid my mother and father hired, and the one who took care of me when Mommy and Daddy were out working." she explained behind the curtain.

Jane's eyes softened, "So she was basically a second mother to you, then?"

Eliza poked her head out the curtain, "Well, not really. Though she did take care of me when I was younger, she never tried to get close to me." she walked out, "Though we do have a mutual understanding that 'What Daddy doesn't know won't hurt him'"

Jane chuckled at the last part before taking notice of Eliza's dress. She gasped, "That looks incredible on you!"

Eliza spun around gracefully, smoothing down the creases of her dress, "Do you say anything other than compliments?" she laughed. Jane's face flushed once more, her feet shuffling as she muttered an apology.

Eliza sighed, "It's not that it's a bad thing, It's just that...well," she put her hands on her hips, "It's a little weird, you know? I mean, I DO love getting complimented once in a while-okay that's a lie-A LOT but I also like it when people speak their mind."

"But are you not afraid of them insulting you?" Jane asked. Eliza raised a brow at her, "Why, do you have any insults you were meaning to say to me?"

"What? No, no, no, no! I just..." Jane refused to meet her eyes, "I'm afraid of coming off as too rude when I speak. Most of my friends did not like my way of communicating and..." she made a spiral gesture with her hand, "Let's say they refused to speak to me afterwards."

George stepped inside the changing room, wearing yet another tuxedo-like outfit but this time with a pink color palette, "Well, it sounds to me that your 'friends' aren't true friends if they were willing to leave you just like that without telling you why."

Eliza nodded, "It sounds to me that THEY'RE more of the problem than you were."

"...Was I also part of the problem, then? Considering how you said that 'they' were MORE of a problem than I was"

Eliza sat down next to her while George went off to the mirrors with hair gel in hand, "It's not that we don't think you're a terrible person. It's just that we don't think you were all that 'innocent'." she took notice of Jane's eyes, a bit more shiny than usual and immediately twisted her words to sound less insensitive,

"Not that it's a bad thing! I'm just saying that, well, both you and your friends all made mistakes that ultimately led to your friendship going down. Think about it, how exactly DID you treat your friends when you were younger?" 

Jane pouted, "I suppose you're right...Looking back on it, I WAS rather rude to them." she gave a sigh, "Though I wish I was aware of that before they decided to exclude me from the group."

"Well, it's not too late to make new friends." George assured, walking to the duo. The two looked up at him, "What do you mean?" Jane asked.

"I mean that instead of lamenting on the fallen remains of your past friendship, you should focus more on the present friendship you have right now."

Jane's eyes widened, " 'present' friendship?"

"Don't tell me you don't think we're friends?" Eliza asked her, a tone of disbelief on her voice, "Why, if we weren't friends, I would never have offered you my clothing!"

"But I thought-"

"Did you really think we were 'just being nice'?"

"Well, maybe. I-"

Eliza and George both burst into laughter, leaving Poor Jane both embarrassed and confused. The purple haired girl didn't know what to say, "So...So we ARE friends?"

"My goodness- YES, We are! Why else would we have treated you so kindly?" Eliza wheezed.

"Miss Eliza doesn't treat anyone kindly unless she is planning something wicked. We are the only two exceptions at the moment" George said through his laighter, wiping a tear off his face.

Jane watched the both of them laugh at her misunderstanding and, after realizing what had happened, couldn't help but laugh with them.

"I'm sorry, I just-you know...I never had friends before who weren't taking advantage of my wealth or who were actually nice and thought that maybe-"

"We wouldn't be so different?"

Jane snapped her fingers together, "Exactly! But then I realized..." she looked down to the dress she borrowed, "You really ARE different from one's I'm used to meeting. I mean-look at this dress! It must be worth a fortune!"

"Well, actually, it's-"

"Miss Elizabeth, your snacks are ready!" a voice cut her off.

Eliza turned to the source, "Coming, Miss Alice!" she yelled back and turned back around to face Jane, "Seems like we have to cut this conversation short, our snacks have been prepared.

George looked at his watch, "A bit quick,don't you think?" he asked, standing up to follow her, Jane on his trails.

Eliza placed both her hands on her back as she walked outside of her room and into the hallway, Jane and George behind her.

"To you, maybe. But Miss Alice is our most experienced maid so she does things a lot quicker than most." Eliza turned the corner, coming in face to face with a delicately decorated table with pastries and tea on top of it, "But enough chit-chat, we have some food to eat,"

"And Tea to drink." George finished, the two walking quickly to grab a hold of one of the pastries in the pastry stand while Jane watched in amusement, following them.


End file.
